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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25636003">The Canticle of Atonement</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elia41/pseuds/Elia41'>Elia41</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dragon Age - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Chant of Light (Dragon Age), Epic Poetry, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Origin Story, Redemption, Revenge</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 10:55:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,310</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25636003</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elia41/pseuds/Elia41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Can deities feel regret for their actions ? Dirthamen did, and sought to rectify the greatest mistake of his existence. Thus did the Keeper of Knowledge become the Atoner.</p>
<p>AN: this is completely fictive and in no way canon whatsoever. Also, yes, some concepts were borrowed from Kingdom Hearts.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dirthamen &amp; The Augur</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Canticle of Atonement</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Dirthamen regrets the events that led to the Evanuris’ imprisonment</em>
</p>
<p>Trapped within the Golden City,<br/>Dirthamen mourned in silence:<br/>“What a fool I was to listen to my lover,<br/>Falon’Din, Bringer of Death,<br/>Silent knife cloaked in shadows!<br/>You struck Mythal, my beloved mother<br/>And your honeyed tongue turned<br/>My heart from her to you!<br/>Curse you for that!<br/>And curse me for falling to it!<br/>Fen’Harel, Dreaded Wolf,<br/>Friend of she who was justice,<br/>You were right to trap us<br/>In Thedas’s heart. We earned it.<br/>This punishment, I accept,<br/>O Breaker of Chains, Master Trickster.”</p>
<p>
  <em>The Evanuris plan their revenge</em>
</p>
<p>But Elgar’nan and Andruil,<br/>And June, Sylaise and Falon’Din,<br/>And Ghilan’nain, Mother of Beasts,<br/>Disagreed, and so Dirthamen kept quiet.<br/>And Elgar’nan declared<br/>“We shall have our revenge!<br/>Over Fen’Harel who tricked us,<br/>Over his partisans who helped him,<br/>Over our people, over the world!<br/>They will pay for our fate, they will all pay!<br/>June of the Crafts, Ghilan’nain<br/>Who spins life, I order you to create<br/>Tools to bring ruin upon the mortals,<br/>To raze the land, drown it in blood!<br/>Thus I command!” And the Craftsman<br/>And Lifespinner set to work.</p>
<p>
  <em>Dirthamen watches June and Ghilan’nain work</em>
</p>
<p>Dirthamen, silent and quiet,<br/>Having accepted his fate,<br/>Watched his brethren at work,<br/>Watched as doom took form in their hands.<br/>June crafted the deadliest of weapons,<br/>A machine of infernal workings,<br/>Powerful enough to split the land,<br/>Tear the sky and dry the sea.<br/>But Ghilan’nain took<br/>The Darkness in Thedas’s heart,<br/>And imbued it with her foul magic,<br/>And so a plague was born<br/>Of which there was no remedy.<br/>And Dirthamen knew he had to act.<br/>In Mystery cloaked,<br/>He sabotaged June’s work,<br/>In Secret shrouded,<br/>He brewed a cure to Ghilan’nain’s disease<br/>And neither knew, for he who gave knowledge<br/>Knew best how to hide it.</p>
<p>
  <em>Elgar’nan explains his plan</em>
</p>
<p>Elgar’nan saw the creations of June<br/>And Ghilan’nain and decreed:<br/>“Though June’s machine is nice,<br/>Ghilan’nain’s disease is better.<br/>An eternity of suffering, a corrupting plague<br/>Will sweep across Thedas<br/>The likes none have ever seen!”<br/>And he broke apart June’s work,<br/>But Ghilan’nain’s disease, he kept carefully,<br/>And Dirthamen held the cure close,<br/>Hidden in the shadows of Mystery.<br/>And his father, Eldest of the Sun spoke:<br/>“We need to break free of this prison,<br/>The Golden City, Heart of Thedas.<br/>But we cannot do it alone.”<br/>Yet mortals could. So, they whispered.</p>
<p>
  <em>The Evanuris trick the Magisters Sidereal</em>
</p>
<p>Under new names, the Evanuris whispered,<br/>And Dirthamen whispered along<br/>Because he knew he had to leave<br/>To counter his brethren’s evil actions,<br/>To stop the plague.<br/>Under new names, they spoke<br/>To the great magisters of Tevinter.<br/>Elgar’nan the Vengeful Sun<br/>Became Dumat the Silent.<br/>Falon’Din, Master of Death,<br/>Called himself Lusacan the Dark.<br/>Andruil, Mistress of the Hunt,<br/>Took the name of Andoral of the Slaves.<br/>Sylaise, her sister and Hearth Keeper,<br/>Became the Fiery Toth.<br/>June, Master of Crafts,<br/>Called himself Urthemiel of the Beautiful Works.<br/>Ghilan’nain, Mother of Monsters,<br/>Took the name of the Chaotic Zazikel.<br/>At last, Dirthamen the Knowing, the Atoner,<br/>Became the Mysterious Razikale.<br/>Together, they whispered to<br/>The Magisters Sidereal, and they were heard.</p>
<p>
  <em>The Second Sin</em>
</p>
<p>Lured by promises of power and glory,<br/>The Seven broke the Veil<br/>Through a ritual of blood, lyrium and bone.<br/>The Veil, weakened, unraveled<br/>Before their magics,<br/>Showing the path to the Golden City,<br/>The Heart of Thedas.<br/>The Conductor of Silence, the Watchman<br/>Of Night, the Appraiser of Slavery<br/>The Forgewright of Fire, the Architect<br/>Of Beauty, the Madman of Chaos<br/>And the Augur of Mystery stepped<br/>Into the Fade in the mind and in the flesh.<br/>They walked the golden path<br/>To the City, to the Heart,<br/>Unaware of the dreadful fate that awaited.<br/>And Dirthamen watched:<br/>As they opened the City’s Gate,<br/>Elgar’nan released the plague of Ghilan’nain<br/>The dreadful Blight, and<br/>The Seven were corrupted<br/>For Ghilan’nain’s disease twisted<br/>The body, the mind and the soul.</p>
<p>
  <em>Dirthamen saves the Augur</em>
</p>
<p>The Seven fell, and the Blight<br/>Tainted them, but it also tainted the City,<br/>And the Heart of Thedas,<br/>Once Golden, became Black.<br/>But, as the Evanuris laughed<br/>And left the City, Dirthamen reacted.<br/>He soaked his grey cloak<br/>In the Blight’s remedy<br/>And threw it over the Augur,<br/>Halting the corruption and saving him.<br/>Then he called his servants,<br/>Enfenim and Harel, Deceit and Fear<br/>And told them: “Get us out there!”<br/>And the demons carried the pair.<br/>Far from the once-Golden City,<br/>They wandered, away from the Evanuris<br/>Through the pathways of the Fade,<br/>Until the Atoner knew they were safe.</p>
<p>
  <em>Dirthamen instructs the Augur on how to fight the Blight</em>
</p>
<p>Regret in his heart, Dirthamen explained<br/>The Augur the Evanuris’ machinations<br/>And the Augur forgave him,<br/>For the Atoner was his God and his savior.<br/>“I am no god!” Dirthamen retorted.<br/>“Just a powerful mage-king.<br/>But now, I need your help. My body<br/>Is trapped, slumbering beneath Thedas,<br/>And I cannot wake. I humbly ask:<br/>Do my bidding once more,<br/>Be my hand, Caecilus Pavus,<br/>Augur of the Library of Mysteries!<br/>Help me stop this Blight<br/>Ghilan’nain spun into life!”<br/>And the Augur agreed, for he owed<br/>Him his life. Dirthamen told him<br/>The ingredients for the cure:<br/>Herbs of all kinds, elfroot, lyrium,<br/>The blood of the Blighted and his own,<br/>The blood of an Evanuri, an Old God.<br/>He sent the Augur back,<br/>And the Augur set to work.</p>
<p>
  <em>The Augur founds the Grey Wardens</em>
</p>
<p>Alas, as they spoke, the Blight spread,<br/>And it reached the Evanuris.<br/>Slumbering, they couldn’t resist<br/>The corruption. The first to fall was Dumat,<br/>Elgar’nan, who had ordered<br/>The Blight made and was its first victim.<br/>From the land, he rose, the first<br/>Archdemon. He extracted his vengeance<br/>Over Thedas, corrupting the land<br/>And his people, leaving naught but<br/>Devastation in his wake. The Augur<br/>Saw it and gathered the survivors.<br/>In the White Citadel,<br/>He shared Dirthamen’s Knowledge<br/>But no Old God blood could be found.<br/>They used the spilled Archdemon’s instead.<br/>Thus, the remedy didn’t cure the Blight<br/>But slowed it down and empowered them.<br/>They called themselves the Wardens of Grey,<br/>For Warding others was their task<br/>And grey was the cloak of Dirthamen.</p>
<p>
  <em>Dumat is defeated</em>
</p>
<p>Caecilus Pavus told his family<br/>The truth, and they forgave him.<br/>With them and the Wardens, they fought<br/>Dumat, but Elgar’nan was too powerful<br/>And a blow from one untainted<br/>Didn’t drag his soul in the beyond.<br/>A Grey Warden had to kill him.<br/>Against his God’s vengeful father,<br/>The Augur unleashed his magics.<br/>Moon’s shadows clouded his mind,<br/>And a star fell but Dumat lived,<br/>So his daughter called upon the sun.<br/>The sun’s light, which Elgar’nan once called,<br/>Struck him, and he perished with her.<br/>The Augur mourned his child, but the Blight<br/>Was over. He instructed the Wardens,<br/>Then went away in a secret shrine<br/>Dedicated to his god.<br/>There he fell in the Waking Sleep,<br/>To serve him forever.</p>
<p>
  <em>Dirthamen watches the world change</em>
</p>
<p>Dirthamen twisted the Fade,<br/>And thus rose a Library<br/>In which all the knowledge<br/>Of Thedas could be found.<br/>Spirits of Knowledge<br/>And Wisdom filled its walls,<br/>Valor to protect, Wonders to seek,<br/>And the Augur became its Librarian.<br/>From the Fade, Dirthamen<br/>Watched and mourned his father<br/>Whose madness had led to the Blight.<br/>He watched the world change,<br/>Tevinter stagger, the Chantry rise.<br/>He whispered to Andraste<br/>And she mistook him<br/>For the Maker, but he guided her<br/>Until she was betrayed. But they<br/>Twisted Knowledge, rewrote History<br/>And the Truth was forgotten,<br/>The Augur’s name, the Blight’s nature,<br/>Elvhenan in its glory<br/>And his role in the story.<br/>And though he watched<br/>And guided when asked,<br/>The Library’s doors shut,<br/>And he became Silence.</p>
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